Romeo and Juliet's Verona

Today, this major tourist city of Northern Italy is famous for its art, its fairs and festivals, its operas, and its churches and theaters, many of which date to Roman times.

Like so many cities, Verona straddles a river, and therefore requires bridges that span it. On either side of the water, you can see the stone dikes built over the last several centuries, the source of this particular bridge’s name, which translates as “Stone Wall Bridge.” 

Verona’s oldest bridge, the Ponte Pietra was completed in 100 B.C.E. to provide access to the east bank suburbs. The left bank’s stone arches were destroyed during World War II and rebuilt in 1957, using their original materials.

In some places the Adige river is shallow enough to walk across. From the Alpine mountains, the Adige enters the Po lowland, and spills into the Adriatic Sea. This fly-fishing fellow may catch one of the river’s barbed gill trout.

Across the Ponte Pietra is this 16th-century church, [Dome]  among Verona’s most beautiful. Its bell tower remains from a monastery built 500 years before. The façade is white marble, and statues of St. George and St. Lorenza Guistiniani guard the door. 

Located by Mounte Lessini, Verona was founded by ancient tribes and became a Roman colony in the 1st century B.C.E. Today, it’s famous for its art, fairs, festivals, operas, churches and theaters, many dating to Roman times.

Better known as the Scaliger Bridge, was named for its builder, Cangrande II della Scala, Lord of Verona from 1332 - 1359. The bridge was built to provide della Scalla with an escape route across the Adige from his castle in the event of a rebellion against his tyrannical rule.

Nicknamed Can Rabbioso (“Raging Dog”), della Scala amassed a great fortune by impoverishing Verona and was likely poisoned by his own brother. 

Like the Ponte Pietra, this bridge was destroyed by the German army during WWII, and later reconstructed. Flanked by 2 pentagonal towers, its three arches, made from white marble and red bricks, give it a length of 120 meters.

If you could peer beyond the bridge, you’d see the Castelvecchio (Italian for “Old Castle”). Its towers and and merlons pierce Verona’s skyline. Today it’s the Castelvecchio Museum, which houses sculpture, statues, paintings, weapons, goldworks, and bells from around Verona.

This minor basilica is famous for being the site of Romeo and Juliet’s marriage since it is adjacent to a Benedictine abbey, possibly home to Friar Laurence. You can see the basilica’s bell tower, a 62-meter-high building completed in 1178.

In Act I of Romeo and Juliet, Benvolio tells Romeo’s mother that he saw Romeo “underneath a grove of sycamore / That westward rooteth from the city’s side.”  The bard possibly used the sycamore as a pun  to express Romeo’s lovesickness. 

Still in use today, this classic Roman amphitheater is famous for the large-scale opera performances given here. In ancient times, nearly 30,000 people traveled from afar to attend the ludi (shows and games).

Today, for safety purposes, the maximum attendance is 15,000. The arena was originally built outside the city’s walls, but in the third century, Emperor Gallienus relocated the walls to include and protect it.

The Arena was built in the 1st century A.D. by emperors who employed “bread and circuses”— appeasing the masses with superficial entertainment. For almost 400 years, crowds were entertained by bloody carnage of various sorts, including gladiator games. 

After Emperor Honorius prohibited gladiator games in 404 A.D., the Arena stood empty for centuries. Several earthquakes in the 12th century destroyed the original building, still, these four arches remain, suggesting the the splendor—and horrors—of the arena’s glory days. 

Verona has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Center because is has developed progressively and uninterruptedly over two thousand years, incorporating artistic and architectural elements from each successive period. 

Today’s Verona is a vibrant cultural and business center. Since it serves as the crossroads for the Military Ridge State Bike Trail and the National Ice Age Trail, you’ll always see lots of bikes and cyclists along the city streets.

A Roman forum bustled on this site, and today, the open-air market, Piazza delle Erbe, is the heart of Verona, where you can visit restaurants, enjoy gelato, and purchase souvenirs. La Casa di Guilietta (Juliet’s fictional house) is close by. 

In the Middle Ages, Verona was dotted with towers, symbols of noble families’ wealth. One of the surviving towers is the Torre dei Lamberti, built by the powerful Lamberti family in 1172. Its dominant clock was added in 1779. 

During the Middle Ages, this edifice housed the Casa dei Mercanti, the merchant’s guild, and was rebuilt in brick and stone in 1301. The merlons along the roof are wide enough to shelter a soldier, recalling the days of battlements.

Above the merchants’ tents, the Square’s most ancient monument, the Madonna Verona, is barely visible. This Roman sculpture dates back to 380 A.D. Sculptures and statues dot the city, depicting Greek gods and goddesses, Roman soldiers, and Catholic saints.